From one of South Korea's most revered science fiction writers comes an absorbing tale of corporate intrigue, political unrest, and the chaos stemming from a company’s relentless pursuit to build the world’s first space elevator. On the fictional island of Patusan, the Korean conglomerate LK is constructing an elevator into Earth’s orbit, transforming the once-idyllic resort town into a bustling travel hub. Up in space, the elevator’s “spider cable” is held taut by a mass of space junk known as the Counterweight, which conceals a trove of personal data left by LK’s former CEO—data critical to the company and humanity's future. Racing to retrieve this data are various rival forces: Mac, the disillusioned Chief of External Affairs at LK; Choi Gangwu, an everyman unwittingly entangled in Mac’s investigations; the former CEO’s brilliant niece and power-hungry son; and Rex Tamaki, a violent officer from LK’s Security Division. They navigate a maze of fake identities, neuro-implant “Worms,” and the political grievances of the Patusan Liberation Front, an army of island natives fighting for their sovereignty. Conceived as a low-budget science fiction film, the narrative weaves literary references from Joseph Conrad to the Marquis de Sade, blending cyberpunk, hardboiled detective fiction, and a parable of Korea’s neocolonial ambitions.
